Search Marquis malware is a browser redirect virus that affects Mac systems. It causes unwanted and even dangerous redirects of victims’ online searches. Often, Macs suffering from Search Marquis redirects are infected with other malware too. Usually, these are trojans and droppers, that brought the redirect in first place.
Search Marquis method of infection
The most common way of spreading Search Marquis infections is via so called “software bundles”. These are software packages that install shareware of freeware programs from not trusted third-party sites. During the installation of these softwares, Search Marquis installation is pre-checked or even silently installed without users’ consent. After the virus is installed, Search Marquis invades the browsers installed on the machine and makes it literally impossible to be removed. The worst thing with the hijacker is that it is correctly signed and because of that it successfully bypasses Apple’s notarization service and the built-in MacOS Gatekeeper that takes care of bad apps bypasses the virus.
Visual symptoms of the infection
It is very easy to spot the Search Marquis malware. It invades all browsers that are installed on victim’s machine. That includes Chrome, Safari and Firefox. Once “plugged” into the browser, it changes the homepage, the search engine and the new tab page with searchmarquis.com. Some versions of the browser hijacker even change the DNS server settings of victim’s machine. That makes the Search Marquis removal almost impossible. Even more, the virus interferes with MacOS Terminal app and creates a phony Profile under System Preferences that strongly keeps the affected browsers’ settings.
Search Marquis additional domains and services
Searchmarquis.com is not the only domain that the browser hijacker redirects the victims to. Depending on the virus configuration, the unsuspected user can be taken to the following domains also:
- searchbaron.com
- api.lisumanagerine.club
- searchsnow.com
- searchnewworld.com
- search.surfharvest.xyz
- mybrowser-search.comsearchitnow.info
All of the sites above return custom-tailored search results that have nothing to do with initial user’s search term. The search results lead to malformed websites that serve additional adware and malware. These links should not be clicked at first place! Some of the malware sites use exploits called “drive-by downloads”. That means that once the unsuspecting victim clicks on Search Marquis link, the website he is taken to automatically drops additional malware on the Mac user is browsing from. And this is the real danger from keeping that browser redirect installed.
Search Marquis removal
As reported by many of our readers, removing Search Marquis is not an easy task. The whole process involves deleting “Profiles” from “System Preferences”, finding and removing the trojan that drops the malware on the machine and is taking care of its persistence. It is not recommended to mess with Apple’s system files and folders. Therefore, an automatic Search Marquis removal is strongly advised. If you need to remove that virus, please download and install Spyhunter anti-malware for free.
